1. Field
The present invention generally relates to devices used for making decorative yarn fringes used on draperies, pillows, clothing, and the like, and more particularly to such fringe making devices that are hand-powered for home use.
2. State of the Art
Decorative yarn fringe is used at the top of draperies, around the peripheral edge of pillows, on shirt pockets and other items of clothing, and the like to enhance their appeal and aesthetic qualities. Though hand-made fringes originated many years ago, most today are mass-produced using high-speed weaving or similar type equipment. Such hand-made fringes were made by hand-winding yarns around a template, such as two spaced-apart boards, hand-sewing a retaining seam along one board to secure the fringe, and snipping the “loops” at the opposite board to release the bottom thereof.
More recently, in accordance with the retro-trend to make clothing by hand, a hand-winding device, or fringe maker, has been marketed to facilitate hand-winding of fringes. The fringe maker is mostly made of wood with an elongated base of solid wood construction. Respective crank and idler support members removably connected to the base extending upwardly using respective dowels pins. A crank winding arm is rotatably secured to the crank support member using a retaining pin for hand-driving using a hand crank. An idler winding arm is rotatably connected to the idler support member. A pair of elongated winding rods interconnect the support members. A middle winding arm connects to and reinforces the winding rods intermediate the crank and idler winding arms. An elongated, U-shaped yarn guide rod is removably connected extending upwardly from the base.
The crank support member has a crank-receiving slot that closely rotatably receives the hand crank and a pin-receiving hole that intersects the crank-receiving slot to receive the retaining pin and retain the hand crank thereto. The idler support member has a rotation bore.
The crank and idler winding arms are each of truncated triangular shape. Two pluralities of rod-receiving holes extend through the winding arms that closely receive the winding rods in a plurality of the spaced relationships. A pivot bore is centrally disposed extending into the support section. A rotation pin extends from the pivot bore of the idler winding arm. The idler winding arm is rotatably connectable to the idler support member while in the operating position by inserting the rotation pin into the rotation bore thereof.
The hand crank includes a drive rod that comprises a crank leg connected to a parallel, oppositely disposed handle leg through a connecting leg. The crank leg is coaxially affixed within the pivot bore of the crank winding arm to facilitate driving thereof using the hand crank. The crank leg of the drive rod is closely rotatably received within the crank-receiving slot of the crank support member and secured therein by inserting the retaining pin into the pin-receiving hole.
The winding rods each include opposite ends that closely fit within the rod-receiving bores of the winding arms. The winding rods are disposable in a plurality of spaced relationships equidistant from and at opposite sides of a horizontal axis to interconnect the winding arms and form a removable winding unit.
The middle winding arm is of elongated generally rectangular shape that includes a pair of rod-receiving end holes, and two pluralities of rod-receiving side slots that closely receive the winding rods in the plurality of the spaced relationships. The holes and slots correspond to the rod-receiving bores of the crank and idler winding arms.
The fringe maker is used by placing it onto the support surface. During a winding process, a plurality of yarns are tied to one of the winding rods and the hand crank is rotated to pass the yarns under the yarn guide rod and wind around the winding rods. Once the yarns are wound onto the winding rods they are tied-off to secure. The retaining pin is removed from the crank support member. The crank and idler winding arms, the hand crank, and the winding rods with wound yarns are removed from the base with support members as a single unit for transport to a sewing machine to sew a longitudinal retaining seam closely adjacent one of the winding rods to complete the fringe. The winding rods are then removed from the crank and idler winding arms and the fringe is removed therefrom. The crank and idler winding arms, the hand crank, and the winding rods minus the fringe are then reassembled to the base with support members and a new winding process is started.
While the prior art fringe maker works reasonably well, it has numerous serious shortcomings. First, even though the base is made of solid wood, it is rather small and thin so as to be lightweight. This makes the fringe maker rather unstable during winding and prone to tipping. Second, the winding rods block the view of the yarn guide rod in certain rotational positions during winding. Third, the fringe maker is not of heavy duty construction and prone to breakage. Fourth, the support members and the yarn guide rod are removable and thus can be lost. Fifth, the maximum width of the fringe that can be produced is only eleven inches. Sixth, there is no place to store the component parts including the support members, the winding arms, the retaining pin, the hand crank, the winding rods, and the yarn guide rod. Seventh, there is no ruler or measuring device for measuring items to receive the fringe and lengths of the fringe during winding. There is a need for a fringe maker that solves these problems.